Sanders Makes Decision

Evan Daniels

01/29/2008

Jesse Sanders, who nearly averages a triple-double, recently ended his recruitment. The talented lead man is headed to Conference USA.

Jesse Sanders had a little help when it was time to make his college decision. The 6-foot-3 point guard picked up some advice from his older brother, Thomas Sanders, who is Gardner-Webb's leading scorer and rebounder.

"My older brother has been through this division-1 stuff and recruiting and he told me not to go for the biggest program," Sanders, a standout at Houston (Tex.) Homeschool Christian Youth Association, said.

"Wichita State was talking to me and so was South Alabama, so there were some bigger programs that have been more successful, but my brother and dad told me to go after the people rather than the program."

That's exactly what Sanders did. The talented point guard developed a relationship with the Rice coaches and following a visit he gave them a verbal commitment.

"I had a visit the weekend before last and I was kind of leaning towards [Rice]," Sanders said. "The education is phenomenal and I just wanted to get to know the coaches."

"I was really impressed with the coaches," he continued. "They are really high character guys and two of the guys are Christians and I really liked that. I just got a good feel for the people there."

Sanders picked Rice over strong interest from Saint Louis, Oral Roberts and New Orleans. The crafty point guard currently averages 15.9 points, 10.6 assists and 8.4 rebounds on the season.